Superior - Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Here it is! The newest chapter of Superior after a brief Hiatus!

All 5 previous chapters are available on Patreon, with the first two so far available on DA

Chapter 6: Last Straw

Every day for the next week, once Carl had returned, I went to my car, sitting in the darkened vehicle until most of the other cars left the office. Each time I crept up to his office, Carl was alone, working late—without Jane.

I checked Jane’s office as well, thinking that perhaps she had a different benefactor, after all. She was always there. Always working. Always alone. It was as if my mind simply couldn’t accept her supposed capabilities.

Invariably, Carl left before she did, leaving hers the sole car in the parking lot. I tried to stay up until she left the office, but, my eyes beginning to close as waves of tiredness caught up with me, always found myself leaving before she did. I couldn’t understand how she got by on so little sleep!

Meanwhile, she continued to better me at every turn.

As I walked past my team, I heard two of my subordinates talking.

“Yeah! I got in at 5:00 AM this morning to work on the stuff John needed, and Jane was already here! When she asked what I was working on, I told her, and she showed me a way more efficient way to go about it!”

“Jane is pretty amazing. She’s always so calm. Like John used to be, remember? These days, he just seems frantic all the time. Seems like she’s the only one that knows what she’s doing around here these days…”

My heart sank at what I’d overheard. Was that truly how things appeared these days? I slipped into my office, closing the door to bury my tired eyes in my hands. Even my own people were going to Jane for help now. Had I allowed myself to become consumed by our competition to an unhealthy degree? Should I just give up?

No.

I’d never given up before, and I didn’t intend to now. This sexy young creature might beat me, but she wouldn’t win without a hell of a fight.

I sighed, leaning back in my chair as I attempted to think of a different tack that would change the dynamics of the game. Thus far, I’d been playing into her hands. I needed to think outside the box, to consider an angle she hadn’t for once.

My thoughts returned to the feel of her body against mine in the elevator, and I began to have trouble concentrating. Christ, every part of this girl seemed to be inside my head!

I slammed a fist down on the table, then ran my fingers through my hair. Think, dammit! Think!!!

I forced myself to consider Jane’s odd behavior from another angle. Jane was always here at night, but it certainly didn’t appear that it had anything to do with the men in the office as I’d originally thought. Yet there had to be a reason why she was doing it.

A new sense of purpose filling me, I swept out of my office to the security station behind the front reception desk at the bottom floor of our building. I’d worked late myself enough nights that I had a pretty good relationship with the security staff. It was time to call in a favor.

“Jeff?” I ventured as I opened the door, recognizing the blonde buzz that emerged from the man’s octagonal hat. He tore his gaze from the bank of monitors and spun to face me. “John! Long time no see!”

He rose from his seat to give me a warm hug. I returned his genuine smile, pleased both to see the man and to have a short break from worrying about beating Jane at the next assignment.

“Do you know that new VP? Jane?”

The man’s smile widened. “Who doesn’t? Girl’s the best looking woman here!”

I attempted to maintain my smile but was fairly certain it evolved into something more akin to a grimace. “I’ve noticed that she works really late almost all the time, and I’m just a little worried that she might be up to something she shouldn’t be doing.”

Jeff’s smile faltered. “Really? I have noticed that she’s here pretty late. In fact, she’s always still here when I wrap up the late shift.”

“Would you mind letting me aim one of the cameras at her office for tonight? I’ll watch it tomorrow and let you know if I catch her doing anything wrong.”

“Well,” Jeff considered. “Technically, I shouldn’t let you look at the footage, but I’ll let you. Just this once, though.”

He turned to adjust the nearest camera until it was angled to view directly into the glass wall of her office.

“Can’t say as I mind turning a camera on little miss supermodel, I suppose,” Jeff said, his eyes locked onto Jane’s monitor as his voice turned conspiratorial. “I don’t suppose you’re just hunting for something to use to ask her out. You do tend to date some seriously hot chicks.”

I scowled. “No, Jeff. Not looking to date her.”

Just destroy her, I thought as I thanked him and left.

***

The next day was Saturday, and I didn’t go into the office for the first time in several weeks. Instead, I laid down on the sofa and opened up the email from Jeff on my tablet. Shoving one hand behind my head, I watched the screen in fascination.

Hour after hour, Jane simply sat at her computer working. Sure, a few times, she got up to stretch, the sight of her limber body contorting, perfect breasts straining the fabric of her top making my eyes bulge. But she really didn’t do anything unusual at all. It was pretty much the same as watching her work during daytime hours.

As the minutes ticked by, my eyes began to appreciate little nuances in the way she had arranged her office. Her monitor was set farther back than was typical, aligned with the furthest edge of her desk. As she typed away, I began to see why. Her beyond-volleyball-sized breasts were so huge that they hovered just above her typing fingers, needing extra space between her torso and the screen.

Her chair too, was raised higher than normal. Her long legs still managed to reach the ground, but the higher setting on the chair allowed her buxom chest enough clearance to enable her to type without their lower slopes bulging over the keyboard.

I continued to survey her surroundings, noticing that she had no sticky notes on her monitor or at her desk. No notepad either. Did she simply keep all of her notes in her phone? I supposed she must. It seemed strange, however, for someone with as much meticulous attention to detail as she possessed not to have at least one notepad around.

I looked for her phone before realizing that it wasn’t on the desk either. Or any other surface that I could see. Was it in a drawer? In her bag? How could she use it to make voice notes if she didn’t even have it within reach?! It didn’t make any sense at all. Her desk was spotless, arranged to accommodate her unique body but containing virtually nothing else.

I tossed my tablet to the side. Of course I hadn’t been able to discern even a single helpful clue. The girl was almost inhuman in her work habits, more like a machine than a person…

...a stunningly gorgeous, incredibly sexy machine...

An email popped up on the screen. It was from Jeff—a reply to the security footage email he’d sent last night.

“You sure your girl’s not a robot or something? I watched all night, and she didn’t do a damn thing except work!”

I smiled wryly at his sentiment. I was beginning to wonder the exact same thing myself!

Though I found my smile contouring into a crooked barrage of teeth as I continued to stare casually at the recorded feed before me. I wasn’t sure how long I aimlessly watched her after that. After a while, I just found myself looking over her perfect form.

Even the unflattering camera angle and grainy footage couldn’t distract from her unobscurable beauty. If she really was a robot like Jeff and I had joked, her mechanic must have been Aphrodite herself.

And then, the unexplainable happened.

She turned to look at me.

The movement was only for the briefest second, but it seemed to last an eternity within my mind. The subtlest shift of her head shot a laser-focused glance in my direction. Her hands continued typing on her keyboard, never once breaking their hyper-focused state.

It was as if she knew I was the only one still watching the recording. Even through the muted colors her side-eye of emerald green shined brighter than most stones, instantly capturing my focus with its allure, I could not help but be mortified by the ordeal.

Within the pixels, I swore I saw her cherry lips curl into a knowing smile. She was taunting me. After my outburst towards her earlier, she must’ve figured out I was desperate to prove her a fraud no matter the cost and now she was catching on, noticing the unusual angle of the camera and that I would be watching on the other end.

Or perhaps she had always known.

I didn’t get much of a chance to ruminate upon such intrusive thoughts before my ringtone blared throughout the empty house. My paranoia was reaching its peak. What if that was her calling me at this very moment? What if she knew the exact time I would witness her seeing into my little scheme?

My shaking hand was reluctant to pick up the phone. The fear of the unknown suffocating me into inaction. But I had no choice, I was on call. I gritted my teeth and picked up the phone, answering it without even seeing who it was.

“Hello… You’ve reached… Jeff… VP of Loan Origination and Marketing…” I sputtered, only realizing now just how much my anxiety was causing me to hyperventilate. “H-how may I help you?”

“Jeff, is that you? You sound so winded!” came the voice of Bill from my phone. “You’re usually the fastest one to pick up the phone in the entire board! Is something wrong?”

“Yes I’m… just feeling a little under the weather today is all,” I lied. “Must be that Havana syndrome that’s been going around.”

“Ah, well, my best regards to your health, but if you could make it to the office tomorrow we’d really appreciate your presence!”

Oh no. That could only mean one thing—Jane must’ve won over another client with all that work she was doing last night! I could feel my heart rate increasing, which increased my exhalation alongside it.

“W-well, Jeff, if you don’t think you’re in a position to make it to the planning board for the holiday party, then I suppose we can go on without you. But it is a company tradition after all.”

My breath faltered. Jesus Christ. I had become so obsessed with that damn bimbo I’d forgotten about a yearly event I actually looked forward to. My rivalry with her was becoming unhinged, gradually drifting farther and farther from reality with every passing day. Spending ten hours glossing over footage of a woman working at her desk must’ve finally driven me to insanity. I needed to get off this crazy train and fast, or I’d likely spiral out of control.

Yes, it must’ve been my paranoia. There was no way she actually looked at the camera.

Though I wasn’t about to rewind the footage and check.

***

A sense of relief washed over me as I sat down the next day for a relatively simple meeting. A mere discussion of how the banquet hall would be organized, This would surely fix my headspace and the resulting funk from it.

It was an unremarkable event, but that was exactly what I had needed. One where I wasn’t unfairly put on the spot by Jane and made to look like an incompetent fool. In fact, Jane hadn’t even shown up to this meeting. Perhaps she wasn’t planning on going?

But as the discussion wrapped up and everyone began to leave in rough groups of ten as their functions had been completed, that was when I saw her. She was filing into an elevator alongside a few others. It wasn’t the closest elevator to my car, yet I found myself drawn to it out of… morbid curiosity perhaps?

I sprinted into the closing doors at the last second, causing a rather loud break from the status quo which put all eyes on me. Well, all eyes except for Jane’s. She continued to stare forward as if I didn’t even exist. It was strange, to say the least.

As the elevator began its slow descent from the top floor, she continued to ignore me, at least, that was what I could garner from the sparse glances I threw in her direction.

Then, one of the people got off at their intended spot. Then two did; then three.

There were only two people left in the elevator now. Me and her.

She then shot me a look, the exact same side-eye I had extrapolated from the hazy video quality.

“Did you at least enjoy those ten hours of footage, John?”

It was the perfect one-liner. Just succinct enough to be biting yet vague enough that it couldn’t be pressed on later. It filled my heart with a jumbled blend of emotions, too many to process at a single time.

And then—without any further elaboration—Jane arrived at her stop and exited, the steel doors closing behind her as the vestige view of her radiant red locks grew smaller until it was nonexistent.

I was left in the elevator alone. Like an astronaut floating in the darkness of space, untethered from his station. What awaited me in the great beyond? What existed outside of my current understanding? I’d just have to wait and see.